The Light in the Mirror
by SapphireMoon15
Summary: An energy sensitive girl finds herself in a dangerous myth, and is lead to Seretei by mistake. How will the Shinigami cope with a figure who knows what has happened, and what is going to happen, in their lives? Please read and review! It's my first story!
1. Lightning

Chapter 1

There once used to be a myth of the mirror and the apple. At the stroke of midnight, one sits in front of the mirror, by a lone candlelight, peeling an apple. She looks through the mirror while doing this, all the while taking care to peel the apple in one long, straight attempt, for if she severs the peel, unimaginably bad things would happen to her. Thus looking in the mirror and peeling the apple, it is said that she would be able to see future events of her life play out like a movie in front of her. It was only for the bravest of hearts, because the mirror is not rose tinted. Life is never smooth.

The story constantly haunted R. She had heard her mum repeat this a lot in her childhood, and had often wondered if it was real. Like the pencil game and the ouijia board, this story induced fear and at the same time, contempt. Only, she would never dare to try it. When she asked her mum if she had tried it, a cryptic laugh was all she got in answer. That laugh frankly gave R the shivers, much worse than the myth itself.

Head stuck in the clouds— that was how R would describe herself, in an instant, if she were to be honest. The only daughter of a seamstress, R was part of that unfortunate generation X which brought with it rapid electronic and cultural changes. In her childhood, sandcastles and books had taken up her time for enjoyment. As a teen, mobile text messaging was like the miracle God had sent to helpless students for the purpose of escaping teachers' wrath while exchanging life-altering gossip in vowed and literal silence during lessons. By the age of 20, she, much like others her age, looked back and felt displaced, stuck amongst conservatism, spirituality, hedonism and arrogant materialism.

She opened her eyes and looked up at the cloudy sky. _Pondering over these again_ , she mused. But that myth though. She instantly felt goosebumps flooding her arms. _No_. Looking at her watch, she saw that it was 5:30 pm. Mum would start looking out for her in an hour or so. She put her hands back behind her head and closed her eyes again. Lying on her back, on a lonely jetty in Tokyo's Odaiba beach, shielding her face from the summer sun with a hat— it had been her favourite activity since the time she was 17. At 23, having lived in Japan as a _gaikokujin_ for over 15 years, this peaceful sanctuary had kept her sane through all the hormones and the ongoing existential crises. _15 more minutes,_ she told herself.

The rush hour was an every-day nightmare. At the small _conbini_ where she usually bought her cigarettes, before entering the station, R noticed that the new weekly issue for Shonen was out. Being in Japan for 15 years had eventually gotten her hooked onto manga. Not just any manga though: just Bleach. It was the first she had read. She had been 10, and had gotten her best friend at the time, Kasumi, to painstakingly read and translate every word till she had gotten better at Japanese herself. When the Bleach animated series started airing 3 years later, she had watched in awe, at all her beloved characters coming to life onscreen. She laughed with Orihime, cried with Rukia and marvelled at Ichigo, and often got mad at the decisions of the _Sou-taicho._ When she could afford it, she bought all the animated series in CDs and DVDs. That mad world of Soul Society and Hueco Mundo, of monsters, of death gods who were too human, was her escape of choice. Their powers that grew from their core, was her hope, her fight against mundanity.

She picked up the latest Shonen weekly and passed it to the elderly man manning the stall.

"Ano.. korewa nihongoni kaitanodesuga, Nihongo ga wakarimasu ka?" ( _Excuse me miss, this manga is in Japanese, do you understand Japanese?)_ R blinked at him blankly for a second, and smiled back to his kind smile. "Indojin desuka?" he was asking now.

"Iie, Singapoorujin desu," she answered. She always got this: people asking if she was from India and her saying she was from Singapore. "Nihonni juugonen wa sunde orunode, Nihongo wa mou daijoubuda to omoimasu," she said with a smile. _(I've lived in Japan for 15 years, so I think my Japanese is alright.)_

"Aa, sounan desuka. Yokattan desune." _(Ah, really? That's good.)_

She paid him and moved on to the train. On the ride home, she was thinking about the characters of Bleach. She wondered why humans around her with their fascinating complexities, could not excite her as much as the engineered imaginary characters drawn by a comic artist. _Maybe the magic,_ her inner voice answered. Maybe, she mouthed.

Magic was all around. She remembered the incident at the age of 19. At Odaiba beach after school, as usual. It was about to rain. Thunder was rolling so loudly in the skies that she had felt her whole body vibrate in tune with it. She had just had a fight with her mum about something teenage and mundane, and had not wanted to go back home straight after school. Even after hearing announcements from the beach officials telling patrons to take shelter from the approaching thunderstorm, she had lain there deep in thought. She had not even registered the moment lightning struck her on her head.

She had lost her memory for a few days, and she had lost all her hair. She had had difficulty moving her limbs for a while, but she lived. She had quite miraculously survived a bolt of lightning on her head. R came away from that ordeal with a sensitivity in her body that she hadn't felt before, and with green grey eyes that her brown ones had changed to. It was her scar. The doctors could not explain this phenomenon. They only guessed that the electricity to her brain had caused it to pick up many things that were quite unnoticeable to the average human being. She recognized vibrations of individual people. She saw energy of people and things left behind after their death or destruction. She took this to be an answer to her constant questions pertaining to the mundanity of life. Even after 4 years, seeing ghostly remains of actions performed once upon a time left her feeling gripped. That had to be magic.

AN:

gaikokujin: foreigner  
conbini: convenience store

This story will move pretty slowly because I am trying to get a feel of the characters, and they aren't speaking to me quickly enough.


	2. Blood Apple

Chapter 2

"You were at the beach again weren't you?" was how her mum greeted her at the door. "R, you know that place is far from home. Do you really _have_ to have me-time almost every single day? Look I'm not even nagging you as much as I used to, right? Make home your sanctuary, it's cheaper at least!"

"You're contradicting yourself right this moment," R replied nonchalantly, as she sat at the table and pulled out a cigarette. "And it's not that I need time away from you mum. I love you, and I want to come home to you. But after work ends, I need to get away to recover before I join the rush hour madness."

"Smoking again? No wait, I won't nag you. It's your choice." K started to lay the table. R looked at her. To escape an abusive marriage, she had dragged R to Japan where one of her cousins had been working. With her minimal savings, she had gone from job to job, accumulating enough to finally start her own tailoring business. It was interesting work. She did anything from office wear to _kimono_ to cosplay costumes. The customers brought their own material and ideas, and K brought them to life. Unfortunately, R had none of that talent her mum possessed.

"How was business today?" she enquired, ignoring the comment about smoking.

"Had another weirdo come in. She was going to cosplay someone called Loly in that anime you're crazy about— Bleach, is it? She showed me a picture of it, and it was all I could do to wonder how her dress stays in place above her chest. Really, what an unearthly design!"

"Hueco Mundo is not on earth, mum, so technically it has to be unearthly." R replied with a smile, knowing her mum wouldn't get the reference. "But why was she a weirdo?"

"Oh God, she was too into it. I recommended holding the top together with a piece of flesh coloured nylon, and she started having a minor panic attack. She said she did not care if she would have to superglue it onto her chest but she had to look exactly like Loly. I asked her what she was going to do about her shoulder length hair, and she said she's worried about that. She actually asked me if I had hair tonic or oil to recommend her. Me, with my crop cut. R, why are youngsters nowadays so… passionate?"

R burst out laughing. "Good on you mum, to use a positive word on that!"

"Well what do you know? Even I need one after recalling that," K sighed, taking the pack of cigarettes from R's hands. "I'm not officially a smoker and I retain my rights to nag you about it though," she deadpanned, staring R dead in the eyes, and then blowing smoke in her face.

"Geez mum! Now I know where I get my crazy from!" R got up from the table and continued preparing for dinner.

….

"Tomorrow may be Saturday, but I require you to report in to my shop for errand work." K pointed the handle of the fruit knife at R, and then dropped in onto her lap. "Sleep early, no marathoning tonight!"

"MUMMY! _Yabaiii!_ " screamed R, clutching up the knife before it did any serious damage. She hurled an exaggerated sigh in the direction of her mum's retreating figure. It was pretty late. R and K had stayed up after dinner with wine and cigarettes, talking. K was a vibrant woman and someone R could never live up to, in her opinion. She was an expert chef and a talented seamstress, and she was good with her hands. She could catch any art with one try. R had retained mainly the intellect her father had given her, his love for books and writing. They were different, often opposites, but they had learnt to adjust and had a bond only a mother and daughter could have. K made it a point to ask R about her seeing ability regularly, and made sure nothing bad happened as a side effect to that lightning incident. She had tried to ban R from going to the beach alone: R was the only family she had now, and it had scared her half to death to receive a phone call saying R had been admitted to the hospital following lightning strike. The ban had never worked, and slowly K understood that R would be this way: often dreamy, needing a ton of space, sometimes displaced. But the girl had a sensible head on her, and ever since the lightning, she had gotten faster at brain work, comprehension and sensitivity. She had quickly jumped a few ranks in the MNC she worked for, owing to her innovative problem solving skills. It had enhanced her entire being, along with her sense of emptiness in a busy, commercial and bright city like Tokyo.

R started up the DVD. This was the episode after the entire Soul Society Saga. They would chase each other around until Ichigo, Ishida, Orihime, Sado and Yoruichi returned to the Real World. She wished that the holiday period would last a little longer, so she could watch her favourite characters interacting without fights and conflict. She sat in bed, peeling her apple with the fruit knife, watching the episode.

The electricity snapped. R sighed. She was too lazy to get up and fix the generator switch. Her mum was already asleep. She checked the battery status of her laptop. Still full. She would watch the next few episodes and then go to bed. Fall was approaching, so the winds kept her room comfortably cool enough to sleep in without air conditioning.

Behind R, the mirror started buzzing. R felt her whole body react to the subtle vibration of the mirror. She knew that a normal person would not be able to sense it, but she with her tuned 6th sense felt immense power sweeping into the room through the mirror. Slowly, she turned back to face it. Her heart gripped in itself to see the whole dressing table pulse in a frequency so subtle, it did nothing to move the cosmetics placed there. Her eyes caught the reflection of the anime playing on her laptop behind her. With fear, she realised that the reflection was growing larger and larger, until the whole mirror seemed like a window to the goings on in the animation.

She didn't realise it slipping, till the fruit knife hit the floor. She was caught by the vision in the mirror. It slowly dawned on her that she was acting out the creepy myth her mother used to scare her with. R took in the atmosphere. It was just slightly past midnight, she was in complete darkness, the only source of illumination was her laptop playing bleach, and she had been peeling an apple. She tore her eyes away from the mirror and looked down at her lap. The apple peel had been severed.

Bracing herself, R put the plate to her side and stepped toward her dressing table. As if it could sense her approach, the mirror pulsated more intensely almost as if it were inviting her closer. The scene in the reflection had stopped moving. She was facing one of the streets in Seiretei. Looking back, R saw that on her laptop, the anime was playing just fine. It was as if she was under the spell of the mirror. R could not think of anything else but the mirror and the reflection. It did not even occur to her that she could not see herself in the mirror. Blankly, she put her hand out and touched the glass.

She knew it would be this way. Her hand went through, and the resulting waves of energy on the other side seeped into her room. The claustrophobia clenched at her throat. The energy was suppressing her. Even then, as if being pushed, she went ahead: grabbing her handbag with her, she climbed onto the dressing table, and took the leap of her life onto the other side of the mirror.


	3. Familiar Faces

Chapter 3

She landed on her knees in the street. Getting up, she looked around her. It was night time. The air smelt delicious. Her wired senses revelled in the fresh air, when she suddenly heard the announcement blaring all around her. "RYOKA DESU. RYOKA DESU."

She panicked and backed off, only to be surrounded by 10 shinigami holding their swords to her. She stumbled over her words, trying to convey that she posed no harm, when she suddenly felt the monstrous energy gripping at her chest, forcing her to fall over trying to breathe. It was all she could do to look up at Zaraki taichou, Captain of squad 11, frowning at her and baring his teeth in a ferocious grin. "And who's here? Who are you onna? Are you Ichigo's _nakama_ too?" She passed out just as she saw Zaraki taichou's pink haired lieutenant peer down at her from behind his shoulder.

….

When she came to, she was in some sort of a hospital bed, and there was a lot of shouting going on outside.

"Then who could she be? Ichigo, you guys were the only _ryoka_ who managed to invade Soul Society and Sereitei! She must be your friend!"

"Are you stupid? I already told you. I know who my friends are! And she is not one of them! I have never seen her in my life!"

"Did you just call me baka? I shall kill you now, you bastard!"

"You badly want to lose to me again, do you?!"

"Kurosaki! Madarame San! This is not the time to fight. It would be best for us to ask her who she is. She appears unarmed."

"Shut up Ishida!"

"Yes, we already thought of that!"

R sighed in bed. Maybe this was not the adventure she wanted to have. Suddenly, she sat up. A potentially dangerous energy was approaching. Potentially dangerous was the best phrase she could use, to describe this strength, and some sharpness, in that energy. She could almost tell who it would be.

"Kurosaki Ichigo. Madarame San Sekki. I am aware that the new ryoka has you both confused and worried. However, please do not fail to remember which squad grounds you're standing upon. Our 4th squad grounds are for healing and recovery. I would advise you to keep your volume down." On her bed, R could not suppress a soundless giggle at hearing what was most probably Unohana taichou's calmly threatening voice. She was surprised at how similar her voice was to the animation.

Ichigo and his friends walked in. R, having seen them all in animation, had not had the capacity to imagine what they would be like in human form. It was weird, but fascinating. Ichigo's natural orange hair was blindingly vibrant. Sado was huge. Orihime was incredibly beautiful with her red hair and grey eyes. Ishida too, was an attractive boy with a nerdy intellectual look. Madarame Ikkaku had a legit crazy look in his eyes, and Ayasegawa Yumichika, silent till that moment, was a very, very good looking pretty boy with violet eyes. They surrounded her bed and stared at her.

R decided she should clear things up immediately. "Gomen," she started. "I don't exactly know how I ended up here. I walked through my television." Orihime gasped at this. "I was compelled to— I mean I was watching. And the anime…" They looked confused. "I mean, all I want to say is, I mean no harm. I didn't even know you guys were real. I'm from the real world. I live in Tokyo."

"What the hell do you mean you didn't know we are real? Do I not look real to you, onna?!" Ikkaku turned on his energy, and Yumichika put a hand on his shoulder.

"Wait, Ikkaku. I doubt she is lying, she does look lost. But what an ugly thing to say— my beauty is surreal, but we all live and breathe, onna."

R took a deep breath. "I apologise. But where I come from, you guys are all part of the manga drawn by a comic artist. And then you guys were made into animation and given voices. I don't mean to be rude, but this is the truth. And I fell into the mirror, which was reflecting Sereitei when I was watching this animation. "

"Excuse me, what is your name?" Orihime's voice softly rang out amongst the guys, who were staring at her with their mouths wide open.

"I'm R," R replied her, and smiled. Orihime returned the smile with her own.

"R San, I- I don't understand how you could say we aren't real. And if you are in Tokyo, aren't you in the same world we live in? We all exist, to say otherwise… it's quite—"

"Forget it Inoue," Ichigo interrupted her. "We don't know her. Our job in Sereitei is done. We should go back to the real world, and let the Gotei 13 handle her." He turned to leave with his giant sword hanging behind his shoulders.

R panicked for a moment. "Wait, Ichigo! I- I don't know what might happen to me here. And I need someone to talk to the sou-taichou and tell him I'm basically harmless. He seems like the kind to usually kill people and then ask their dead body what happened." Yumichika snorted at this. "Please help me. I am as lost as you are."

"It can't be helped I guess," Ichigo grumpily agreed, rubbing the back of his head. "R, after we speak to the captains, we need to get out of here. It's not good for Sado and Inoue to be in Soul Society too long." R readily agreed.

AN:

Ryoka-literal translation-travelling evil  
onna - woman/ girl  
baka - stupid  
gomen - sorry (informal)


	4. The Judgement

Chapter 4

By the time R had reached the captains' meeting room with Ichigo and his friends, she had already come up with the perfect reasoning which would hopefully prevent her from being locked away in this place. Or killed. Or both. At the door of the solemn meeting room, she had to stop. She fell to her knees and had to be helped up by Ichigo and Sado. Orihime, being the dear girl she was, kept asking R if she was okay. R proceeded to explain why she felt claustrophobic.

"You can't handle the reiatsu. Just take a deep breath and push your reiatsu against theirs." Ichigo ordered her, interrupting her.

"No," R felt annoyed. Reiatsu was not even a proper word! "The energy from the captains, when it fuses into the clear air of the surroundings, is able to get absorbed by my body more easily, but because it's foreign, my body repels it. But—"

"The force of the energy pushes onto her, it's stronger than she is, and that's why she feels unable to breathe." R looked at Ishida in silent awe as he finished her explanation for her. "Kurosaki, is there a limit to the denseness of your brain?" Ishida seemed to honestly enjoy making Ichigo confused.

"Uhhhhh." Ichigo scratched his head as Ishida rolled his eyes. "No hang on—"

"Kurosaki Ichigo." The voice which called out was not that of the old man in the animation. This voice was dangerous. It dripped with lava, deep and ferocious. It held millennium of wisdom and battle. "I hear you have brought this ryoka woman here to explain something to us. Get on with it, the captains don't have all day."

"Uh, hai, jii san." Ichigo approached the center of the room with the rest. R, from the corner of her eyes, saw the characteristic flinch of the Captain of the 10th squad, Hitsugaya Toushiro, upon hearing Ichigo address the Sou taichou with something equivalent to grandfather. She smiled slightly. Ichigo continued, "This woman is not part of my group, but I have spoken to her, and she is harmless. She is lost, and so we want to request for safe passage for her to get back to the real world."

R stared at Ichigo, amazed that he could put things so simply to the Sou taichou, without a grain of fear in his eyes or stance.

"There is no way she could have entered Soul Society without a _Senkaimon_ or gotten into our heavily guarded Sereitei without an insider helping her," huffed the ever suspicious Soi Fon taichou of the 2nd squad. "I do not think we should take this lightly, especially in view of the recent events involving Aizen—"

"Come now, Soi Fon taichou," this honey voice belonged to Kyouraku taichou of the 8th squad. "Let's not get too carried away. Aizen escaped via _negacion_ less than 2 days ago. Why would he have planted such an obvious spy or troublemaker? Let us hear from the lady herself how she got here." He looked at her encouragingly, expectantly.

Everyone's eyes were on her. R cleared her throat. "I came here through my television," she started. Someone snorted. She guessed that it was Zaraki taichou. "I live in Tokyo. I don't know how exactly I ended up here." She sighed. Repeating herself again. She was getting tired of protocol. She was going to keep talking, and screw them if they didn't believe it. "So, I have heard of this myth before, that sitting in front of a mirror by candlelight and peeling an apple, alone, will cause supernatural forces to show you your exact future in the reflection of the mirror. I did not actively try it, but I happened to be peeling an apple in my room in Tokyo, where I was playing Bleach anime on my computer. And—"

"Bleach anime? What is that? And what does that have to do with you entering Sereitei? Onna, make yourself clear and precise! Do not waste our time!" Yamamoto sou taichou was getting impatient.

"Dakara, I _was_ trying to explain the relevance and would've finished sooner if you did not interrupt me, sou taichou," she retorted. She felt Soi Fon taichou bristle at this remark. "Moushiwake arimasen. I do not mean to be rude. But to continue, Bleach anime is the animated version of you guys. It's sort of like a cartoon. But it's your story. I can name every one of you here, because I know about you all from the show and the manga. I know about Aizen, Gin and Tosen. I know how everyone is going to make their moves from this point forth."

"How could that be even possible!" Upon hearing the kind voice, she turned around to see Ukitake taichou of the 13th squad looking very concerned. He had long silky white hair and dark shadows under his eyes. It was worrying to see him so sickly. He continued, "If we were to follow what you are saying, you have powers to discern the future!"

R blinked. "No, that's not what I'm saying at all, Ukitake taichou," She replied, confused. Ukitake taichou's eyes widened at her knowledge of his name. "I'm saying that everyone in here, Ichigo and his friends from the World of Living, Shinigami from Soul Society, and Hollows and Arrancars from Hueco Mundo— they are all products of one man's imagination. But that is valid only in my world. When I came through that mirror, however, it may be that I did not enter a fictional world, but one in a different dimension." She paused, recalling the eerie vibration that had compelled her to step through the mirror. "I am very sensitive to energy, which may be the reason why this place opened up to me. But now I am thinking, what if Bleach isn't fiction? Maybe in another dimension, or universe, all of this is happening. Perhaps we are from different realities. What if everything that was put to paper in one world gets created in another place and time?"

"You are damn right it is all happening." Hitsugaya taichou looked up at her, his turquoise eyes burning. Pain was still there, even in his voice, as he almost trembled trying control it. "Because too many have suffered. I do not know about the feasibility of alternate universes. All I can hear is you mentioning Hueco Mundo, and that means you know what will probably happen next. If that is the case, we will need you to create an advantage for us in the coming war.

"Hnh. Of course. Battle is the only thing that would go on in the minds of these cretins," murmured the heavily face-painted Kurotsuchi taichou of the 12th squad. "If you were to ask me, I think experimenting on her would be more beneficial for the security and the protection of Gotei 13 in the long run. This woman has managed to sneak into a world which is animated in hers. What is this if nothing short of fascinating? How about it, onna? Work for me, I would love to experiment on you and find out what you're made of. See, the _reishi_ concentration here should've already made you explode, but here you are, standing." He smirked at her, intensely creepy, intensely perverse, till Ishida stepped in front of her and raised his voice.

"You shall do no such thing, you disgraceful bastard! Not what you did to my sensei!" R, who'd been frozen by the manic look in Kurotsuchi taichou's eyes, turned to Ishida, his face turning red in anger, his fists balled up. What a righteous young man he was, to not want what happened to his sensei to happen to others. Even complete strangers.

"Quincy. It appears that you have some more anger issues left after the battle. How say you we revive our fight? If I win, give me both the girls for my experiments, eh?" Kurotsuchi taichou mocked Ishida and laughed.

"Kurotsuchi taichou." The voice gave her the chills. "In your excitement to further your scientific research, do not forget that our pride as Shinigami lies in our ability to protect human beings. You will not abuse your position for unwarranted experimentation." R turned to look at the owner of the deeply chilling voice. Kuchiki Byakuya of the 6th squad, was staring Kurotsuchi taichou down with a glare. He now turned to her, his steely grey eyes fixed on her. R blushed. He was a really handsome man. However, his face was empty. His expression was stone.

"That will be enough." Yamamoto sou taichou cleared his throat. "Kurosaki Ichigo. I understand your concerns, but we will not be letting this woman go with you yet. We will investigate further on her motives on entering Sereitei, and her means of doing so."


	5. Reassurance

Chapter 5

"Wait, jii san! You cannot do that! She does not belong in Soul Society! She might have family who will—"

Yamamoto sou taichou slammed his walking stick onto the floor to interrupt Ichigo. "This decision is final! Kurosaki Ichigo, you have my thanks for pointing the way to the real villain of Soul Society. But this is not of your concern. We Shinigami will decide what to do with this girl. You are all dismissed."

"Jii san! I will not let you take her prisoner even if I had to fight you all!" Ichigo put his hand to the hilt of his sword. R put a hand on his arm to stop him.

"No, Ichigo, don't do that. You are supposed to be on good terms with Soul Society. You will need each other's help." She looked at all of them and sighed. "It's been great. To actually have a conversation with you all, and to laugh at your antics. It feels like I can't remember a time when I though Bleach was fiction." She sighed again. "I'm pretty sure I am going to be okay. Soul Society is not that cruel that they would kill a useless human being over perceived spying. Ichigo. Go back home and train yourself… Especially your mind. You might come close to breaking point."

"R San…" Orihime suddenly looked scared.

"Fret not, Orihime," R soothed her. You will all be fine in the end. But you all need strength.

"Stop talking like you actually know the future, R!" Ichigo shouted in her face. "That's just more encouragement for them to keep you here!"

"Nothing is absolute, Ichigo," R calmly told him. "Even with their focus on beating Aizen, Gotei 13 will not ignore the fact that with my entry into the picture, things are not going to play out the same way anymore." She raised her hand to stop Ichigo from saying further. "Go home."

"If I don't hear from you in two weeks, R, I will come back here and look for you." Ichigo declared and walked out of the room, followed by Ishida, Orihime and Sado, who had concerned looks on their faces. They did not trust the Gotei 13. But she could not blame them. Even she did not.

"Kuchiki taichou. If I may trouble you to take care of this woman till we start investigating her proper." Sou taichou's voice rang out in the midst of the confusion.

With a whoosh, he was beside her, looking down at her with his cold expression. "You will follow me to my quarters. We will not hold you in a cell. Not until you're proven guilty." Kuchiki taichou said this in a monotone so precise, she was getting waves of fear in her heart. She nodded and followed him out of the room along with the other captains.

"Do not worry, R chan," Kyouraku taichou fell into step beside her. "If you do not have any evil designs, there is no reason for us to ill-treat you." R felt a sense of comfort from this man. But she knew, from the story, that he was not one to contend with. Kyouraku taichou had his own darkness, perhaps even psychopathy, if his shikai's deadly game was any indication.

"Thank you, Kyouraku taichou," she replied, looking down. "I do not plan to stay here too long myself."

….

Kuchiki taichou lead her to the 6th squad barracks where intensive training was going on, led by Abarai Renji, his fukutaichou. At the presence of unfamiliar energy, Abarai taichou perked up his head and shunpo-ed immediately to Kuchiki taichou, kneeling by his side.

"Kuchiki taichou! Who is this person and why is she here?" Renji's voice was not as rugged as in the anime. R felt quite disappointed at that, but it was still pretty much similar to the character voice.

Kuchiki taichou held his stance, staring further ahead, and opened his mouth with a frown, saying " _ka—"_ but R interrupted him, feeling quite sure that he was going to say the word, " _kankeinai"_ (doesn't matter) to his lieutenant, and quite rudely too.

"I am R from the WOL," she said.

"You are not supposed to speak." Kuchiki taichou retorted, frowning at her.

"I heard no such thing from the sou taichou. I believe I am not a prisoner. Yet." She turned to Renji. "Abarai fukutaichou. My name is R and I have unknowingly made an illegal entry into Sereitei. As I just mentioned, I have not been named criminal yet, and I will be housed in Squad 6's barracks till further notice. Pleased to meet you. May I call you Renji?"

Renji, taken aback first at the sight of this woman and then at the way she daringly interrupted his taichou, could only murmur his agreement. "Uh… un. Uh, so I shall get back to training then. Kuchiki taichou, please let me know if you need anything." He flash stepped back to his training.

Kuchiki taichou led her the rest of the way to her room. It was set apart from the other rooms for the squad members and closer to the Captain's office. It was simply furnished, with a low table, a lantern, a jug of water and foldable mattresses. She put her bag down and sat at the table.

"Bathroom and toilet are attached behind the room. Most probably you will be called out tomorrow to speak to the captains who will investigate this case. Do not even consider escaping because we all have your reiatsu noted down." He turned to leave.

"Byakuya san," Kuchiki taichou froze and spoke without turning back, "I believe I did not give you the permission to speak to me informally," he said.

"What exactly does Gotei 13 want from me?" she asked, ignoring his rebuke. "I really cannot see the future. And even if I could, I wouldn't reveal anything that would majorly change the course of nature."

"Whether you can see the future or not does not matter. What matters is our isolation and how you managed to get in here. Do not ask me any more questions. I am tasked only with your housing, not your investigation." He finally turned to her. "Is there anything else you need?"

"Nothing." She stared up at him emptily. She was good at monotone too. She would match his tone.

Her stomach growled loudly and by instinct, she hugged herself and blushed. Plan failed, obviously. She started, to see Kuchiki taichou blushing too. "I'll send one of the squad members to bring you your dinner." He said hurriedly and left.

Alone, R sat at the table and when the member came with her dinner, she requested for a pen and paper. He told her he would have to ask his captain for permission to pass her that. He left with her instead a simple blue kimono for her to change into before bed. That was when she realised that she had been walking around the whole day in her pajamas and carrying a totebag. How strange she must have looked to the Shinigami.

She could not stay here. She loved Bleach and its characters, but while it had been fun rooting for them from her bed or sofa, it had not exactly been joyful to interact with them. She had forgotten how stuck up Byakuya was, or how inflexible the Gotei 13 could be. She could not, would not change the turn of events by telling them what would happen. She still held doubts as to whether this world was real. Real was her mum, her job, her cramped little flat in Tokyo. She could not stay, she had to go back home.


	6. Acceptance

Chapter 6

It had been an exhausting day. But Byakuya still paced his room. He was thinking about R, the way she had looked, how calm she had been at being refused passage to return to wherever she came from. Her casually interrupting him and opting to exclude honorifics when addressing him. There was a general unease in his throat when he pictured her. He had expected that a ryoka human would have a higher level of reiatsu, perhaps like that girl Orihime. But he hadn't expected a thread of something else in R's reiatsu. It was strong, but it was unlike human reiatsu. Although not dense like Kurosaki's, it certainly was not normal. In any case, people from the WOL were bad news for Shinigami when it came to interaction. He had seen enough from Kurosaki Ichigo. Although Byakuya had chosen to remain silent about Kurosaki's hollowing out in their fight, it disturbed him greatly that Kurosaki had that evil in him. Even more so that Rukia was close friends with him and would not think twice about lending him her assistance in anything. Byakuya felt that Kurosaki was unworthy of such privilege.

He took a deep breath and looked out of his office window. He would need to visit his sister tomorrow. Rukia was resting in the Kuchiki mansion, but because he had this ryoka woman to babysit, he could not return home anytime soon. He was not fully healed himself. He did not believe her story about the television. Maybe it could've happened, but even if it did, he could not believe that his world was fiction in hers. It transcended everything he had learnt and believed in.

They did not need this complication right now. Sou taicho had declared a war in winter, but Byakuya did not believe Aizen would sit around so long, waiting for action. If he had known all this time about Urahara's hogyouku, what was to keep him from creating one himself? And if he had, would he still need all that time for it to awaken? Byakuya had heard about Aizen's skipping the chant for Kurohitsugi, and it was Hado level 90. Clearly, Gotei 13 had been fooled about their awareness of his strength. The Shinigami would do much better to start preparing immediately for war.

Byakuya blew out his lantern and lay on his mattress, trying to get some sleep.

….

"Here. It's for you." Renji held out Rukia's favourite juice carton to her. He had asked one of the Shinigami returning from the world of living to get him one, after hearing her talk about it to Hanatarou one day.

"Renji! That's, um, nice of you, but I don't know if I can consume this in my soul form." Rukia smiled awkwardly at him.

"If you can't drink it then stare at it while you remember WOL, I don't know, just take it!" Renji's voice rose as he blushed.

"O-Oh. Okay. Thank you, Renji." Rukia took the carton from him and looked at it, smiling. Renji, watching her smile, wondered what kind of memories she recalled, looking at that dubious little thing.

This was not how he had imagined welcoming her from her mission in WOL. Try as he might, he could not stop beating himself up about going there to capture her, hurting her even as she was helpless, powerless. Maybe he had redeemed himself in her eyes, rescuing her from her execution and most importantly teaming up with Ichigo, who, he could see, meant a lot to her. But in his own heart, he could not forgive himself for how he had acted. He had meant to do this every day since Rukia had gotten nearly killed, but could never bring himself to.

"R-Rukia." Rukia looked at him "I know you probably don't want to hear this, but I… I am sorry. I should have trusted you, as a friend, and believed that you did not commit a crime. Perhaps if I had stood up for you, Kuchiki taichou might have… maybe he might have—"

"Renji, it's all good." Rukia interrupted him, staring at him with her piercing midnight blue eyes. "I would expect that from you. You are the lieutenant of the 6th squad, and anyone working under nii-sama would be duty bound to do what you did. In a way I'm proud to see that you didn't want to bend the rules just because it was me. And the orders came from the supposed Central 46. There was really no way you could have done anything."

But _he_ did. Ichigo did. He had crossed worlds for her and fought against the man who had cut his soul chain in one slash. Renji looked down at his knees. "I could have petitioned, and garnered support from the other captains—"

"It doesn't matter anymore." Rukia said in a firmer voice. "Renji, look at me." He looked up at her, and saw that her eyes were intense, tearing up a little. "You saved my life. You refused to let me go even when you were getting stabbed. You fought nii-sama till it almost killed you. I don't think those are simple things, Renji. If I can say that I have a friend I can trust my life with, it's you. And in the end, that's all that matters. That you are still here."

They sat there staring at each other till Renji started to blush. "Ano. Aren't you going to drink that thing?" He asked her.

"I told you, I'm in soul form."  
"That's quite stupid, your digestive system is working fine."  
"Shut up, you idiot. If you are dying to taste it, all you need to do is tell me."  
"Hah! Me, dying to taste that suspicious looking thing? You've gone all weird, after returning from the WOL."  
"Someone with a starfish hairline does not get to say that to me!"  
"What? You have no sense of style!"  
"And you have no sense at all!"

They stared at each other and then each laughed, looking at the other's face reddened with annoyance.

"Actually you're now so red I can't tell where your face ends and hair begins," Rukia snorted.

"Teme…."

"Joke, joke. Look carefully, this is how you open this drink." She meticulously drew the straw out of its plastic and poked it in the carton. Offering it to Renji first, she smiled.

Renji grinned back at her and recalled all the times Rukia had prevented fights in their neighbourhood as a kid just by sharing and teaching others to share. In any case, her heart was big, and he knew she was generous with her trust, her friendship. That was why he would always be important to her. And hence he would keep fighting to protect her.

He accepted the drink, pleasantly surprised by its taste of peaches. They talked some more, after which Renji left the mansion so Rukia could rest. He went to his quarters feeling, finally, healed.

AN: teme: you (slightly disrespectful)


	7. Talking Cat

R was bored. She had woken up and taken yet another shower. It was full daylight. It was with mild surprise that she realised it was still spring here, so she hadn't woken up early. Still, no one had come to look for her. You'd think the Shinigami would be much more efficient than this, to interrogate a supposed threat, she thought, amused. Slipping on her socks and sandals, she stepped out into the sunshine. She missed Odaiba and she missed seeing her mum.

At that thought she started panicking. She needed to be there at her mum's shop! How long were these people going to hold her? Troubled, she started walking faster. She was out of the squad 6 barracks in 5 minutes.

They were watching her. She knew there were Shinigami planted every corner she turned. They weren't all squad 6, but they were all watching her. Walking further, she was soon near Rukongai, only that the great wall separating her from it was shut and it didn't look like she was going to get it open. The smell of red bean buns wafted to her, and encouraged by her growling stomach, she made her way toward it.

The howl was deafening. She would recognise it anywhere. Earth shook around her and she turned, the fright clawing at her, to face the most hideous creature she had ever seen. It had the skull of a feral animal, but it walked on two legs. It howled again and she was pushed back a couple of steps just with the wind generated from its mouth. It dribbled and then made a sound like a giggle. She could hear people scrambling to get away from that area, but she was rooted in fear. A couple of Shinigami rushed to the hollow, trying to slash it. They were sent sprawling back. It shot out a lance from its shoulder and skewered them. Screaming, they went into its huge mouth. R still could not move. It must be the dense reiatsu. If she had thought the captains suffocated her, this creature made her feel like she was being thrown into hell itself. She blacked out.

…

When she came to, she was lying on the ground, and there was a black cat looking curiously at her. It had yellow eyes and—

"Oh. Finally awake I see. The mysterious ryoka girl Ichigo was going on about. But I would say you're a bit too old for that boy, eh?" That neither man-nor-woman voice.

"Yoruichi san?" She queried. "It's really you, Yoruichi san!"

"Tsk. It gets really boring when someone isn't screaming 'talking cat!' at me. So I guess what they told me is true." She narrowed her eyes. "You do know all of us. And probably the future."

"I don't know the future!" R cried in frustration. Seeing the cat take a step back at her outburst, she continued, "Yoruichi san. If there's anyone who could try to make sense of this it might be Urahara San. Please, could you not arrange for me to meet him?"

"Control your reiatsu" Yoruichi said calmly.

"Control my? I don't have reiatsu I'm human. Or is that Soul Society slang for calm your tits?"

Yoruichi looked at her incredulously, and then burst out laughing. "Finally! Someone with a sense of humour in Sereitei!" the cat came closer and put her paw on R's knee. "I will try to do something about Urahara. But before that, get up. Someone is incredibly worried about you."

"Wh—" She did not get time to complete her sentence before she felt and sensed Byakuya san right beside her. Right. Yoruichi san would know all there was to know about Byakuya san's reiatsu.

"What do you think you are doing," He asked her, only it did not sound like a question she wanted to answer. "You are not allowed to roam about Sereitei. Unless you want other squads to capture you instead."

R got up and faced him. "It's your duty though, Kuchiki taichou, to look after me, isn't it?" Internally she was shaking, but she said this to him with her nose up in the air.

If looks could strangle and then stomp on your lifeless body, Byakuya san's look was doing just that. "It will not be my duty anymore if you chose to get eaten by a hollow or beaten up by the Rukongai gangsters," he said coldly.

Flustered, R retorted, "Wouldn't that conveniently rid you of your babysitting duties though? Besides, I was hungry and no one in your squad was even going to look in on me!" No, that wasn't it, but Byakuya san's exasperation was strangely satisfying.

"Exactly how were you planning to purchase food without our money?"

"Not the point, Byakuya-bo," Yoruichi San interrupted him.

Byakuya san looked down at the familiar black cat. "I was not speaking to you, _bakeneko_. (demon cat)." He said. "Stay out of this, you are ryoka yourself."

"Come down from your high horse once every few hundred years, won't you Byakuya-bo." His veins showed on his forehead, throbbing in complete annoyance. "In fact you should be thanking me for saving your ryoka girl."

"Oh god, Yoruichi San! Thank you so much!" R had always known she had made a good choice by choosing Shihoin Yoruichi as her favourite character. How was she always so cool!

He silenced whatever R could have said following that with an icy stare. "What do you mean. If she were to have been attacked it would've only been her fault and she would have saved all of us the effort of doing anything with her." God the man was cold.

"Is that so? Your rushing here did nothing to reinforce that fluke apathy, though," Yoruichi San laughed. Byakuya san opened his mouth to say something back but she shut him up. "If you don't listen to me quietly like a good boy, I will be forced to transform right here so you will pay attention, Byakuya-bo."

"Don't even think it."

"So shut up and listen. Your ryoka girl is not a normal human being, and I am sure with your experience you can sense it. The hollow was attracted solely by her reiatsu. I am not sure if it's an unfortunate human trait but just like Ichigo, she can't seem to control it and is splashing it all over the place."

"Yoruichi san!" R protested.

"It's the truth, R. Both of you listen carefully. Just now before I came to kill that hollow, I doubt you realised what you were doing, R, but you were holding it in place and trying to wrench its arms off. Without moving a limb." Both R's and Byakuya san's eyes went wide at this revelation. "You were definitely not conscious, which makes it even more of a puzzle."

"That can't have happened," R protested. "I have no special powers. Well, none considered special in this world at least."

"Trust me, R, I know what I saw," Yoruichi san looked at her with those piercing golden eyes. She now turned to Byakuya san. "I think you had better keep her safe. Maybe even from your senseless authorities."

Yoruichi san flash stepped away with that, leaving R contemplating in silence. She snapped out of her reverie when Byakuya san took her hand.

"Chotto! What are you doing!"

"Getting you back in the barracks so you can have your damn breakfast," he said, and then everything blurred with the speed of his shunpo.


	8. Sekaitenko

Three uneventful days after that, R was finally summoned by the 1st squad messengers. "R sama. Sou-taichou requires your presence at the interrogation." She could not hide her smile, at being referred to as 'sama' when it was unspoken that she was most probably a criminal.

"Let's go." She said, getting up from her desk.

The past three days had gone by in a blur of worry. She did not know how time worked here. She wondered how many days had gone by in her world, and wondered if her mum thought she'd run away or gotten herself killed by another natural disaster. Her interfering manager would try to label her as a slacker if she took so many days off without so much as a note. And most of all, being in limbo was affecting her mentally. It was like she did not know what would happen to her. With Soul Society's reputation of destroying and/ or burying everything they were not capable of understanding or dealing with, she was not even sure she would be able to return home. And that was frightening.

They reached a room smaller than the meeting room, where the Sou taichou sat at a desk. There was a huge number 1 written in Kanji on the wall behind him. It must be his personal office. She stood in front of him and bowed her greetings. Better not to piss the old man off. Beside him were the three oldest captains, Kyouraku Shunsui taichou, Ukitake Juushirou taichou and Unohana Retsu taichou.

"So, onna. Let us come straight to the issue at hand. Who sent you here?"

"Sou taichou, I believe I have already explained the circumstances of how I came here. I did not break in nor am I scheming with anyone. Like I said—"

"If that is the case, you may well tell your story to that person standing to your left so he can try to explain it to us." Sou taichou signalled to her left.

She had not seen, had not noticed, but there he was: Urahara Kisuke, former Captain of the 12th squad and now just a 'poor simple' shopkeeper.

"Urahara san!" She exclaimed. He was another of her favourite characters.

"That won't be necessary, sou taichou, R san. I have already received the story!" Yoruichi San appeared beside him. Damn it, did these people ever walk? "I might have figured out what happened with R san."

Sou taichou leaned forward ever so slightly and queried, "So how did this happen, Urahara Kisuke?"

"The most basic explanation that I could give is one that R san already gave to you. She managed to cross worlds." Urahara san paused. "Her theory is that she is energy sensitive and that is why she managed to come here. But that is only a vague explanation," Urahara san continued. "I believe she is able to manipulate the energy she is surrounded by. I am not sure of the viability of the myth that she spoke about regarding the mirror. But we in Soul Society know what powerful mediums mirrors could be. Sou taichou san. Have you never wondered how our Technological Bureau had all the modernities of the real world, even a hundred years ago?"

Looking at Urahara San, R thought about how she always considered that one of the unexplainable, only-happens-in-anime things in Bleach universe.

Yamamoto Sou taichou cleared his throat. "Naturally it was built that way. And when you started that Bureau, I made sure you went to ask for permission from Central 46 before you built anything." His reply was incredulous and almost embarrassing. She would not deny that the sou taichou was a good leader and a great mentor to the Gotei 13, but he was sometimes unfathomable and had a couldn't-care-less attitude about his subordinates. Priorities, perhaps?

"What if I told you that I managed to find a way to cross worlds to find my equipment and my samples?" Urahara casually threw this question out to the 4 captains, who were visibly growing uncomfortable.

"Then I would have you know that that is dangerously close to breaking the law of Soul Society!"

"My, my. But I have already been exiled. Plus the Central 46 approved of this, because they considered the betterment of Soul Society above the laws, sou taichou." Urahara said this while covering half his face with his fan, as he usually did when he was teasing someone. "R san is not lying about this because this is something that has been done throughout time in Soul Society. Sou taichou san, I believe you are aware of the ancient techniques of _sekaitenko_ (world transfer)."

No one, absolutely no one was shocked by this revelation except for R. She gasped and stared at the sou taichou who remained silent, his eyes still drooping. So it was not that he could care less. He did not want his own secrets out in the open. But who could blame him? No one knew who would take advantage of powerful secrets like this to try and well, destroy Gotei 13 or the universe.

"Are you implying that this onna knows of the techniques of _sekaitenko_ , Urahara san?" Unohana taichou asked, speaking for the first time.

"I do not assume so. However, my point is that we know such a thing exists, and has been used to travel to alternate universes and beyond. I believe that R san, with her capability to manipulate energy, managed to find a path to Sereitei through an accidental world transfer technique we might not be aware of, but which exists in her world."

Mentally, R sighed. How was the situation growing ever more complicated than she thought it could? "Urahara San," she said quietly. "Would that mean you know how to send me back to where I came from?"

"Oh, that may be too much for this poor shopkeeper!" He laughed in that dubious way.

"Kisuke. Stop evading the damn question will you!" Yoruichi san glared at him.

"Alright then." Kisuke changed his tone and directed his shady eyes at R. "I could possibly bring you back to where you came from," he paused. "but I'd like you to know that it will take time and," he turned to the Sou taichou, "some resources."

If there was anything R knew about Urahara by now, it was his sneakiness. She admired his cheek to demand things from the Sou taichou for an investigation that whose technicalities will benefit solely himself.

Sou taichou sighed. "You shall have what you need from our Technological Bureau, with the condition that you will be supervised by Kurotsuchi taichou. The onna will be monitored during this time period and should she arouse the slightest bit of suspicion, she will be thrown in jail."

After everyone was escorted back, Unohana taichou turned to Sou taichou. "Sou taichou, are you sure about letting that onna leave especially after the amount of time she has been here? Plus, it's been masked pretty well, but she has considerable reiatsu for a human."

Sou taichou got off his seat and huddled to the window, a false expression of age. "We are not yet done with her," he replied, looking over the horizon. "Kurosutchi will assist in elongating the time. But we will get out of her what she knows of the future, and we will keep her in unassumed captivity till we are able to gauge her powers. We have to win this war at any cost."

Ukitake taichou let out a small breath of sigh. Things were going to change yet again, whether Soul Society was ready for it or not.


End file.
